Bill pushing for non-expiry prepaid load in the Philippines is being pushed in the Senate.
Senator Sherwin Garchalian filed Senate Bill 365 or the ‘Prepaid Load Forever Actl of 2019.’
Status quo, the 300 pesos load and higher prepaid loads will expire within a year if not used.
Gatchalian said that prepaid loads must be ‘forever’ because prepaid subscribers are working hard to purchase the said service.
Stipulated on the bill is the prohibition of limiting the use of prepaid loads thru expiration date, especially for active users.
Included on the said bill is categorizing an unused account “dormant” after a year.
The load of a dormant account will be deducted peso per day until it runs out of load.
Globe Telecom is against the proposal because it would mean additional cost in maintaining prepaid load in the network.
On the statement released by Globe Telecom, it added that load expiration is important to make sure that the network is maintaining active sim.
“Our position is to continue the existing policy of prepaid load expiration because there are carrying costs (Network and IT costs) in maintaining these in the system. It’s like a room where the load cards occupy space that telcos invest in,” said Globe Telecom SVP for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto in a statement.
Smart Communications Inc. did not issue any comment on the proposed measure yet.
